The Southwest Territory and the Birth of Tennessee. JEFFERSON, THOMAS. 1743-1826. Letter signed ('Th. Jefferson'), as the first U.S. Secretary of State, to Edward Telfair, Governor of Georgia, [New York, NY], April 6, 1790. 1 page, 8vo, docketed verso. A few minor separations to folds and tiny marginal chips. In full: 'I have the honor to send you herein enclosed two copies duly authenticated by the Act to accept a cession of the claims of the State of North Carolina to a certain district of western Territory, also of the Act to prevent the exportation of Goods not duly inspected according to the Laws of the several states, and of being with sentiments of the most perfect respect, Your Excellency, most obedt. & most h.ble serveant, Th. Jefferson.' The letter reflects the transitional nature of the U.S. Government in 1790, at which point, the Constitution had only been in effect for a year. Thomas Jefferson commenced his duties as the nation's first Secretary of State on March 21, 1790, assuming the responsibility of notifying governors of new legislation. This is one of only a few circular letters issued by Jefferson from New York; shortly after his March 1790 arrival, President Washington signed the Residence Act of 1790 into law, which established a permanent seat of government on the Potomac River in present-day Washington D. C. PAVING THE WAY FOR TENNESSEE'S STATEHOOD. The land that would become the Southwest Territory, and, eventually, Tennessee, was part of North Carolina's land patent during the colonial period, located to the west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Early settlements were established in the early 1770s by refugees from the Regulator War, and various semi-autonomous governments were founded by frontier settlers in the 1770s and 1780s, notably the Washington District during the Revolutionary War and the Franklin District in the early 1780s. These settlements were considered illegal by the governments of both North Carolina and Virginia. By 1784, North Carolina ceded control of the Overmountain settlements to the settlers who created the short-lived State of Franklin, but the movement declined, and the Franklinites agreed to rejoin North Carolina in early 1789. Following North Carolina's ratification of the United States Constitution on November 21, 1789, the state legislature voted to cede their Overmountain settlements to settle their financial obligation to the new federal government. Congress accepted the cession on April 2, 1790, in the acts transmitted in this circular letter from Jefferson, which paved the way for Congress to pass the Southwest Ordinance on May 26, 1790. The new territory would be governed under the same provisions as the Northwest Territory, established in 1787, with one exception: the provision outlawing slavery in the Northwest Territory would not be applied to the Southwest territory. On June 8, 1790, William Blount, a Constitutional Convention delegate was chosen by Geroge Washington as the territory's new governor. By 1796, the territory would be admitted to the Union as the state of Tennessee. SENT BY JEFFERSON TO THE GOVERNOR OF THE NEIGHBORING STATE OF GEORGIA, EDWARD TELFAIR. Contrary to North Carolina's cession, the cession of western lands by the state of Georgia did not go as smoothly. Edward Telfair, the recipient of the present notice, governed Georgia which shared a border with the new Southwest territory. His political challenges fomented chaos at the borders and did little to improve relationships with the Native Americans who inhabited the western lands. During his tenure, he independently commissioned agents to implement aggressive trading practices with the Cherokee and Creek nations along the border, and illegally granted millions of acres of western lands to private speculators in what became known as the Yazoo Land Speculation. That corruption is what ultimately forced Georgia to cede its own western territories to the federal government in 1802 to establish the Mississippi Territory, which later became the states of Mississippi and Alabama. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing